The Wolves' Last Path [WIP SP campaign for BfW1.14]

[skeptical_troll]

With this campaign I tried to achieve the following:

1. Kill all my residual ambitions of mocking Tolkien, or at least putting them asleep for some time
2. Let shine in glory what really is my favourite unit in Wesnoth: the Caravan
3. Provide some practical advice if you are planning an interrail across the Great Continent

I'll let posterity, and the future generations of Wesnoth forum users, judge whether I succeeded in these goals. For the time being I'm interested in hearing your opinion about the first part of this campaign (which has 10 playable scenarios and 2 dialog only), which is now published in the server.

Featuring....

• A dwarf merchant, Netheor, trying to save his business in times of deep economic crisis and protectionist trends around Knalga (yes, even in Wesnoth...). He also stands out as having the most fearsome recruit list in the history of Wesnoth.
• His assistant, Dysagrest, who seems to have lost his direction but still considers this job better than many others, for the time being.
• Two of the most debated and controversial characters of mainline campaigns
  Spoiler:

  They will still be controversial
• The first ever implementation of radiative transfer (somehow simplified) in Wesnoth. Something I'll certainly not show off to my friends or tell my grandchildren, but worth writing in the campaign presentation.

Story :
It's set well before the Fall, but after the other mainline campaigns. The events happen a few decades before 'Return from the Abyss'. It is only loosely connected to it so there is no need to play to follow the story (but of course, if you haven't shame on you!). The first part is more like a long prelude, but has its own development and logic. There are some hints on what may come after, although some of you might wonder where this is going.

Mechanics:
This first part is highly experimental, in particular the recalls are free, but villages only provide support, not income. There is also (almost) always 100% carryover to the next scenario, meaning that once you exhaust your gold reserves, you are done. There will be chances to gain some money along the way, however (the protagonists are traders, after all).

This, together with the fact that your recalls will highly depend on choices in scenario 3, makes this part quite tricky (read: impossible) to be perfectly balanced, but the intent for the moment is to be more fun than challenging (not that the two exclude each other).

Since I tried out several unusual things (which isn't necessarily positive, as history teaches us), I'm very happy to hear suggestions on how to develop them or to make them work better, and very open to changes as long as the base ideas are preserved.

Feedback & Getting involved
I did my best to double check it, but I'll be grateful for every bug/typo found, as well to suggestions on how to balance and improve scenarios' mechanics. Admittedly, the last scenario of this part is the one I'm the least sure of how to improve.

Finally, if you'll be one of those weird people who likes it, to the point of being eager to contribute, I'd be very happy to collaborate, as it would make the process more fun. There is really space for anything, writing/improving dialog, coding new scenarios, drawing maps, sorting out details of the story/side quests, adding characters (obviously with some criteria of consistency).

[ResExsention]

Wow! Impressive campaign so far! Well done! Just a few notes:

- There seems to be an error in scenario 3 (the tavern one). Apparently, [unstore_unit] isn't working, as you try to unstore the variable boss_stored. It doesn't seem to contain any unit data. This was done on Wesnoth 1.14.3. I'll take a look at the code and see if I can help you out there.
- I'm currently only at the start of scenario 3, and the balance is already turning against me. Just about every one of my peasants and ruffians died in scenario 1 and nobody got any advancements (mostly because most of the enemies were either level 0 or level 1). Could you do something about that?

But notes aside, this is already a very well made campaign. The dialogue is perfect, and your unit art is great. And when you said something about being one of them weird people who like it and would like to contribute. Well, I'm already impressed by scenario 3. I wonder what you have in store for me next...

[skeptical_troll]

Hi ResExsention

There seems to be an error in scenario 3 (the tavern one). Apparently, [unstore_unit] isn't working, as you try to unstore the variable boss_stored. It doesn't seem to contain any unit data.

Indeed, I thought I had sorted this out but apparently I was wrong. I fixed it and tested it now, so it should work in the new version. It happens when all scavengers die in the previous scenario.

I'm currently only at the start of scenario 3, and the balance is already turning against me. Just about every one of my peasants and ruffians died in scenario 1 and nobody got any advancements (mostly because most of the enemies were either level 0 or level 1). Could you do something about that?

Oh no, poor them! In principle it should be fine though, scenario 3 has no fighting (well...mostly) so you don't need them, and you will be able to recruit new soldiers now. Of course, it would have been better to have some of them still alive. Something I may consider is providing the player with some lvl zero for free in the next scenario, but I'll wait to hear some more comments before deciding.

But notes aside, this is already a very well made campaign. The dialogue is perfect, and your unit art is great.

I'm glad you are liking it! However, I don't claim paternity of the unit art, except for a dwarf appearing in a next episode and for some dirty edits on sprites which I'm not particularly proud of. I just pillaged the art in the forum and in other UMCs, as any good UMC creator does

[ResExsention]

Oh. Cool. Yeah. That's alright. If you wanted, I could do some unit sprites for you if you'd like. Specifically for Dysagrest. But still, those edits are decent enough and make a very good first presentation. It should impress most, if not all.

Well. I can't wait to see what's next!

[skeptical_troll]

If you wanted, I could do some unit sprites for you if you'd like. Specifically for Dysagrest.

Thanks for the offer, if you have ideas on how to improve it, that would be fantastic! I think my priority would be to add some kind of animation. Even adding a single frame for the defense animation could be a significant improvement, but if you are up for it I'll let you decide what you prefer doing.

[ResExsention]

Of course.

[white_haired_uncle]

In The Order of Things, there is a unit called an Ice Cub. If you look at Unit Description, there's an entry for "UNTLB type castle" under Resistances.

Is there a weapon that will let me hit someone with a castle? That would be too cool.

[skeptical_troll]

Obviously, I placed under 'resistance' what belongs to 'defense', but your suggestion is not a bad one, I'll keep it in mind for future implementations.
Thanks for reporting it!

[IIIO_METAL]

Hello, your add-on to a lot of interesting gimmick, is very great. I became a fan.
Now, I'm trying to make a Japanese translation file. So there is a request. Since most of the files do not have the textdomain description necessary to create the translation file, or they are wrong, please correct them. Could you please?

[skeptical_troll]

Hi IIIO_METAL, I' m glad you liked the campaign I wasn' t expecting to be offered a translation, thanks a lot for that!

Exactly because I wasn' t expecting it, the textdomains are all over the place. I will fix them as soon as I can, although I am now in that terrible situation of having moved to a new place and not having internet at home
When I do it I' ll let you know by pm, hopefully by this week.

Also, for sake of transparency, two warnings
1 the campaign is on the text- heavy side, but perhaps you realised it already
2 it is still on development, so I cannot exclude that I'll add or modify a few strings here and there, although probably not in the near future.

That said, I' d be very happy of having a japanese translation!

[IIIO_METAL]

Thanks skeptical_troll.
I understand that you welcome the translation, it will be encouraging.
There is no need to hurry to modify the textdomain. As you say, the amount of text to translate is huge, so it will take months to work. Besides, I can add textdomain and proceed with work.
I do not know how many months later, but I will post it here once the translation is complete.

[DeCoolest_Cat]

Hey, I'm only on scenario 3, but I just wanted to say that I love the ending! Am I a legend now?

[skeptical_troll]

Am I a legend now?

You bet you are! 241.2 points is astonishing, you certainly deserve a place in the hall of fame of the Sleepy Dog, whenever there will be one!

[IIIO_METAL]

I made a pot file, so I will upload it for use by translators.
Japanese translation is over. I am currently checking the consistency of mistakes and styles.

wesnoth-the_wolves_last_path.zip

pot file

(65.93 KiB) Downloaded 541 times

I found a bug in the scenario 03_ye_sleepy_dog.
I was short of money but I was able to hire a dwarf.

[IIIO_METAL]

I reworked the pot of The_Wolves_Last_Path. I forgot to add textdomain to the unit file the last time I made pot.

wesnoth-the_wolves_last_path.zip

new pot

(76.31 KiB) Downloaded 612 times